Sectors

Chesapeake Energy Corp. last week curtailed 0.5 Bcf/d, or 8%, of its operated gross natural gas output in the U.S. onshore and said “if conditions warrant” it was prepared to double its curtailment to as much as 1 Bcf/d. The second biggest gas producer in the United States also cut by by half its operated gas drilling activity and slashed dry gas spending by 70% this year.

Supported by abundant unconventional natural gas and oil reserves, the United States and Canada will become “almost totally energy self-sufficient” by 2030, according to a new forecast by BP plc.

Fuel switching to natural gas in the power, transportation and residential sectors “has significant economic and environmental benefits for Texas,” and could potentially have the same benefits on a larger scale if implemented nationwide, according to an analysis performed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT).

Fuel switching to natural gas in the power, transportation and residential sectors “has significant economic and environmental benefits for Texas,” and could potentially have the same benefits on a larger scale if implemented nationwide, according to an analysis performed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT).

As the natural gas landscape continues to be transformed by booming shale production and renewables emerge on a parallel path, gas industry stakeholders are increasingly focused on the concept of a “smarter,” more flexible gas delivery system along the lines of the electric industry smart grid. Eventually the two need to coalesce, according to a Gas Technology Institute (GTI) technical expert focused on the subject.

Following last Friday’s Earth Day commemorations, two sectors of the federal government demonstrated that a combination of state and federal policy efforts are needed for renewables to make the large-scale breakthrough that their backers envision.

If the natural gas industry can grab even 10% of the transportation fuel and electric generation sectors markets as an outlet for burgeoning production coming out of shale plays, it could be on the verge of a golden era, according to Range Resources Corp. CEO John Pinkerton.

With strong incentives from both the public and private sectors, California stakeholders in the alternative transportation fuel space opened a new research center on Tuesday aimed at cutting fuel consumption in the trucking industry by 50% in the next 10 years. Funding from the California Energy Commission (CEC) is supporting the new center.

Signs of recovery in some sectors of the U.S. economy and rising consumer confidence have driven oil prices steadily higher in recent months, but other areas of the energy sector, including natural gas, have yet to be impacted by the “hope premium,” according to a report issued last week by Ernst & Young’s Americas Oil & Gas Center.